Man seriously hurt when car, tanker crash

One man was seriously injured when his Chevrolet Malibu collided head-on with a tanker truck on West Boylston Street this afternoon.

West Boylston Street reopened before 6 p.m., after being shut most of the afteroon from Quinsigamond Community College to the Greendale Mall.

Preliminary work by police found that the Malibu was going south on West Boylston, when it side–swiped a Honda SUV, veered out of control and crossed the median, where it collided head-on with a tanker truck. The collision also involved a parked Chrysler PT Cruiser and a parked Kia SUV on the northbound side.

The driver of the Malibu was unconscious when he was taken from the scene, according to District Fire Chief Michael Conley.

Jeff Ladou, owner of HairsmytBarber Shop at 326 West Boylston St., saw the accident through his shop window and rushed out to help. The driver was pinned in the driver's seat, he said. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to get the driver out, and they had to cut the roof off the car to do so, according to District Chief Conley.

The crash occurred about 1:45 p.m. in front of 322 West Boylston St., which is near Bourne Street.

Jaime Bazydlo, who was getting a tattoo in a nearby shop when he heard the crash, ran out of the shop and saw the wreckage. He said the driver of the car was initially able to talk but that his condition worsened.

The tanker truck was from C. White Petro-Chemical Transport. While his load did not leak, the diesel fuel the truck was running on was leaking onto the street. Firefighters made dams out of sand at several spots on the street.